Tuesday, June 25, 2013

RCC #7 - Japanese Castella / Kasutera Cake Cooked in Rice Cooker!!!

This was the 2nd new rice cooker cake creation that I attempted 2 weekends ago, the other one being the rice cooker moist chocolate cake. I happened to chance upon a youtube channel by a japanese lady and from her channel, I discovered this japanese castella / kasutera rice cooker cake recipe. Since I have never baked a castella / kasutera cake before in my life, let alone "cooked" one in a rice cooker, I told myself I have to try this, "die die must try" (死都要试).

I was really pleasantly surprised by the results. Just look at the photo below. I made the same cake twice, cooked one in the rice cooker and baked the other one in the oven, they were exactly from the same youtube recipe, just look at how different the results were. Looking at how high and fluffy the rice cooker cake turned out and how flat the oven-baked cake became, I am even more convinced to make my castella / kasutera cake in my rice cooker in future!同样的食谱，同样的材料，不同的烘焙方法，却显示这么迥然不同的效果，真是匪夷所思，让我也下了一大跳!

[Important : I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I do, and I would be happy if you could give credit where credit is due, and link back to this post if you do make this cake and share it on your blog or facebook. Remember plagiarism is not the best form of flattery.]Recipe adapted from this youtube video by ochikeron.I cooked mine for 45 minutes in my rice cooker, pressed "cook" function twice. Detailed recipe and more step-by-step pictures will be posted soon, pls bear with me as I try to clear my backlog :)Ingredients3 eggs90g sugar45g cake flour*45g bread flour*2 tbsp. milk1 tbsp. honeya little butter for greasing* you can use 90g all purpose flour insteadMethod1. Warm the milk in a saucepan. Add honey and mix well.2. Place the eggs and sugar in a large bowl. Beat them with an electric mixer until white and fluffy.3. Add the milk from step (1) to the egg mixture from step (2). Place the bowl over a pan of hot water. Mix with an electric mixer until the batter continuously drips back into the bowl like a ribbon when you scoop it up (ribbon stage).4. Sift in flour and gently cut through the mixture with a spatula until combined.5. Grease the inside of the rice cooker pot and pour in the mixture. Drop the pot lightly on the counter (on top of a piece of kitchen towel in order not to break your rice cooker pot!) to get rid of the trapped air bubbles in the batter. Place the pot in the rice cooker, close it and press the "Cook" button. (For mine, I pressed the "Cook" button twice, and it took 45 min in total.)6. When it's done, let it cool on a wire rack until warm. Then place it in a plastic bag (to keep it moist) to cool completely. (According to Ochikeron, it tastes even better the next day after the flavors have settled, it was absolutely true!)To bake in the oven:Bake in an oven at 170C (338F) for 10 minutes. Then turn down to 140C (284F) and bake for 40-45 minutes.I have received quite a few queries from readers, asking me what exactly I meant by ribbon stage in step 3. This is a very important step for beating the egg yolks with sugar, you have to place the bowl in bain-marie and you have to beat it until it achieves ribbon stage, then only you will get a tall spongy cake. Since I don't shoot my own baking videos, I have searched youtube and found this video which you may all wanna take a look => What is the Ribbon Stage in Baking by DearMartiniKitchen. I hope you find this attached video useful.[Note] If you are new to rice cooker baking, do read this FAQ before you try out your first rice cooker cake. If you would like to receive more updates, do click like on my Facebook page.

Hi,Thank you for your lovely comments! In case I don't get around to posting the recipe and the rest of the photos (since I have a backlog of at least 5 posts), just click on the youtube video, which is in English. Ochikeron did not specify the time required to make this cake in her rice cooker, but I can tell you it took 45 min for my Toshiba.

Hi Lisa,Thanks for leaving behind your name. I prefer to answer "real" people than anonymous people. :)This kastera cake is actually very very nice, it is airy and has a lovely tinge of sweetness from honey. Nobody else has tried it yet, so I hope you will be the first :)

Baked this yesterday and the bottom of the cake burned, maybe because I left it inside the rice cooker for too long. But still can eat other than the outer bottom part and the cake is very spongy. I like it!

Hi Sharon,May I know what brand/model of rice cooker you are using and what is the capacity? how long did you take ? If it is 10 cup capacity, the cooking time will be much shorter. I suggest that you flip over the cake half way through so as to avoid it getting burnt. Still, glad to know that you like the taste of the cake. You can try steaming in a steamer too, if it didnt work in your rice cooker.

Hi Jenny, There is no need to use SR flour as this cake requires no raising agent, use plain flour will do. But if you don't have plain flour, I suppose there is no harm using SR flour, maybe the cake will rise even higher. Step 3 - place bowl over pot of hot water, that means beating the cake batter using bain-marie or hot water bath method. This will help to warm up the cake batter so that you can whisk until it achieves the ribbon stage. If you click on the ochikeron youtube video, you will understand what I mean.

Yes, in principle, you should be able to steam it. I have not tested the steamer method yet so I am not exactly sure how long it will take. You should steam over medium to medium-high heat, time required should be between 30 to 45 min, less than that of a rice cooker. But note that the water may drip back onto the cake if you use a steamer.

Hi..i'm so happy that finnaly found the cake recipe using the ricecooker.because i dont have an oven :p.. I really want to try it tomorrow..but i dont have an electric mixer machine..is it ok if i just whisk the batter by hand??

Hi..i'm so happy that finally found cake recipe only using ricecooker..bcause i dont have oven :p...but i dont have an electric mixer..is it ok to mix the batter using a whisk ? and you also said that the cake will taste better in the next day..do i need to put the cake in the refrigerator? Thanks

Hi Jane,You can use a hand whisk, but it will be very tedious, it will probably take you 20 min to whisk till ribbon stage, this was what a reader told me after she made the cake using a hand whisk. Yo do not have to keep it in the fridge, just put it in a plastic bag will do.

Thanks for the rcc.I made mine with Toshiba 1.8L capacity rice cooker RC-18NMFI. For 45mins.The crust is kinda thick. Should I reduce the baking time? Will this help to get a thinner crust?And the cake seems to be flat, although fluffy. If I were to double up the ingredients, should I stick to the same cooking time?THANKS again. Leng Long..

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